The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE recent increase of COVID-19 cases in Inagua has left residents there concerned and on heightened alert, according to island administrator Marlon Leary.

On Friday, the Ministry of Health recorded 15 new cases for the island and another two on Saturday, pushing its overall tally to 79 since the start of the pandemic.

Inagua is currently one of several islands experiencing an increase in infections as the country grapples with yet another COVID-19 surge.

Yesterday, Mr Leary told The Tribune that while the situation has concerned residents, there is also a sense of relief there as a large percentage of the population is fully vaccinated.

However, he said in view of the increasing infection rates, officials have been appealing for residents to strictly adhere to current health measures.

He said: “Residents are very concerned and we’re trying to emphasise the fact that your best prevention measures are wearing your mask, sanitising and that, and for the most part, we have a lot of persons or most persons in our community are fully vaccinated and even a larger part of the community would’ve gotten their first dose of the vaccine.

“We understand that this variant is highly contagious and we’re doing the best we can. We continue to tell people that if you’ve tested positive, stay home in quarantine and with this recent spike, I think everyone is really concerned now.”

He also said while most people appear to be following current health rules, there have been reports of people breaking quarantine.

“They’re taking the precautions for the most part. You still have a few people who want to be out and we’re had reports of a few (people breaking quarantine), but the police (are) constantly on patrol, seeking out persons and so they are constantly on the lookout and we’re on the ball.”

As for what may have caused the spike in cases, the island administrator attributed it to recent holiday travel.

“We just came out of the holiday season and you have family members coming in to spend this time of year and you had family members going to Nassau and coming even from the US so I think that probably was the main reason for the increase.

“We may have had one or two events where they had persons out. I don’t know if that contributed to the increase, but we have been discouraging persons from practising and those kinds of things.”

He said that despite rising infection rates, many on the island, including himself, do not feel there is a need for more restrictive measures.

“We don’t think there is a need for more restrictive measures,” the local official added. “We just need everyone to be responsible to do what they’re supposed to do and what is right. Even when we had restrictions, people were still doing what they wanted to do so everyone just needs to be responsible and take the necessary precautions because restrictions hurt the economy and we need money to survive.”

There ​have been 28,968 cases of COVID-19 confirmed in The Bahamas.

Two hundred and ninety-one new cases of COVID-19 were recorded on Saturday while there were 818 new cases recorded on Friday, which was a single day record for The Bahamas.

On Sunday, officials recorded 349 new cases.

Meanwhile, 110 people are currently in hospital with the virus.